Hearts by Edited by Marcella Reekie, Cover Design or Artwork by Travis J. Shockley by H.E. Shockley The Story Of A Reconnaissance Squad Leader

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Synopsis

"‘Hearts’ is a two-year adventure that takes place during the middle years of the Vietnam War, 1969 and 1970. From Draft Notice to Discharge, this book leads the reader on a journey from the Army Induction process to Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training, then to Non-Commissioned Officer’s School, On-The-Job Training, and Vietnam. Through the good and the bad, the funny and the sad, you’ll sense love and hate, joy and pain. You’ll know the inner despair of young men as they unwittingly transform into young soldiers, and you’ll laugh at their artful acts of defiance. You’ll struggle with them as their idealistic notion of proudly serving their country pales to the reality that they are merely political pawns forced to participate in a senseless war. You’ll feel the helplessness of being bound by oath to follow orders, to accept peril and to commit to a war that has already been lost, and in which your only resolve will be to survive. You’ll learn what it is to sleep with ticks, leeches, and scorpions, and you’ll eat with ants and rats. You’ll share the torment of helicopter insertions into jungle landing zones, and you’ll join in the revelry of extraction while dangling in the doorways of the airborne roller coasters. You’ll endure long jungle nights in torrential monsoon rain and be thankful that it’s helping to ward off the mosquitoes. You’ll experience the silence and anxiety of sitting in ambush. You’ll tense at the sound of chattering voices, glimpse movement through thick jungle, and realize the explosiveness of combat. You’ll sense the boredom, the exhaustion, the fear, the uncertainty, the hopelessness, and the loneliness, and yet, you’ll feel invincible and brave—a recipe for the adrenalin-induced state of insanity in which the combat soldier exists.